Milwaukee’s Audubon Preschool Sets the Standard

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel – April 07, 2006
By Sarah Carr

Bayside - At this unique preschool, a 3-year-old can identify a cedar tree and a maple - even if she can't tell you what color pants she's wearing.
68154Schlitz Audubon Nature Center Preschool

Preschool teacher Liesl Schultz leads members of her class to the maple tree they are tapping for its sap to make syrup last week. Bringing up the rear and flapping her arms like a bird is Amanda Roessler, 3.

Schultz removes a tap (left) from the tree as the children struggle to get a taste of the last drops of sap for the year. The children are (front to back) Emma Friberg, 3, Zoe Francis, 5, and Ian Moret, 4.

Beatrice Windorski, 3, plays in one of the natural play areas at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center preschool in Bayside. The play areas make use of natural settings, and many of the preschool activities make use of the nature center and its assets to teach the children about nature.

And a 4-year-old can tell the difference between squirrel and rabbit tracks - even if he can't yet read any of the writing on a map.

Young children learn through the sounds, scents and seasons of the outdoors at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center Preschool. The popular program for children ages 3 through 5 started only a couple of years ago, but already has a long waiting list. It's also attracted attention across the country as increasing numbers of nature centers consider adding preschool programs as a way to create outdoor enthusiasts at a young age and address the growing demand for early childhood education.

"I don't panic that my child isn't getting a traditional 'letter of the week' like other preschools do," says Sarah Foster, whose 4-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, attends. "At other preschools, they aren't going out hiking and the children don't come home and say, 'I loved hugging the grandpa tree,' or 'I loved the mystery pond,' or 'I loved listening to the snowflakes fall.' "

Foster adds that there's plenty of time for Sarah to experience more traditional classroom learning. "Once you are inside that classroom, you are indoors for life," she says.

Elizabeth Cheek, the executive director of the Audubon Center, says part of the momentum behind nature preschools came from the book, "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder," by Richard Louv. The book makes the case that the incidence of attention deficit disorder would be greatly reduced if more children were exposed to nature at a young age.

When Cheek suggested starting a preschool at the center, the board of directors initially thought she was nuts. But a marketing study showed the idea was popular with parents, and the center filled up immediately. It now has upward of 100 students whose families annually pay $1,725 to send their kids for two days a week, or $3,000 for four days during the school year.

The Audubon Center, on 185 acres along Lake Michigan, also has a variety of nature activities for the public and school groups. Officials hope to create a scholarship program soon, so families who can't afford the tuition would be able to consider sending their children there.

Unless the temperature is dangerously cold, the children at the Nature Preschool begin their day outdoors.

"The whole curriculum is based on what goes on outside during the seasons," says Patti Bailie, the preschool's director, who created much of the curriculum on her own, and is working to formalize it.

In the fall, that might mean studying the changing colors of the leaves. In the winter, it might mean a unit on the water cycle, when the young students learn about snow and ice. In March, it means maple syrup.

One recent day starts as the kids gather in an outdoor play area. Once everyone has arrived, they sing and share thoughts while sitting on logs in a circle. Elizabeth Foster stands up and announces that she has an idea. The class should make a dream book, the 4-year-old says, with everyone's dreams written down. She then volunteers to share a dream from last night, asking the children who have already heard it to cover their ears.

"We had dinner at the preschool," Elizabeth says. "And me and my mom were the last ones out."

The morning walk takes the children through a series of slushy puddles, where they stomp, sit and roll around. They move on to Mystery Pond, where they watch a family of geese and speculate on the specific relationships between the family members. The children stretch out on a dock overlooking the pond, lying on their stomachs, looking for creatures such as bullfrogs. They pass through a swampy area known as Crocodile Lake.

The children are bound for some trees they've been tapping to make maple syrup. They've watched the whole process from start to finish, and plan to use the final drops of sap to make syrup for a pancake party.
No church basement

Jill Tobin, whose son attends the preschool three mornings a week, says her family has linked the syrup lesson with visits to a family farm in Vermont. She liked the Nature Preschool from the start because "it wasn't the church basement preschool, and the kids were going to be getting outside every day."

Overall, the program's philosophy is that the children will pick up skills - such as counting and colors - through outdoor activities and will have plenty of time for more traditional school activities when kindergarten starts.

This day, however, the children are running out of time to gather sap.

On the way, Elizabeth stands in the center of the wooded path, completely still. She declares that she is a block of ice.

Bailie, the preschool director, claims to be the sun, shining down on Elizabeth until she melts. For a few seconds, the 4-year-old hesitates, continuing to stand resolutely. But understanding the power of heat and light, Elizabeth eventually relents. She scampers off - in search of the last sap of the season.

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